Portable wireless router

[Heronymous]

Thank you so much for this info. Exactly the answer I was looking for.

 

I currently have the RAVPower FileHub Plus Wireless Travel Router and have used it at hotels with great results. I know the Getaway's WiFi will not be the same as a hotel's, and that's why I wanted to find out if anyone has had the experience of using a travel router.

 

I will try it on our cruise in November.

I have that travel router as well as the discontinued DLink travel router, both used to work however due to their use of cookies that they place in your browser now when you log in, they can now tell when you use a different device connecting via a shared travel router connection. It does not work any longer. It used to.. But doesn't now.

 

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[gkr283]

Not sure if it'll work but I've prevously shared paid for hotel WiFi by connecting the WiFi on one phone and sharing via Bluetooth to another.

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[schadeck]

On 8/14/2018 at 4:29 AM, Heronymous said:

This used to work as I used to do it. However they have caught on and use cookies placed on your devices to determine your device identity. Because of this, there is no way to share internet using those travel wifi sharing routers.

 

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

I picked up a RAVPower FileHub Plus Wireless Travel Router last month, and am currently using it to post to this message board from a NCL cruise. The hub works just fine for sharing a connection, but to be honest, the speed is terribly slow just for a single user.  That being said, I am able to share a connection between my laptop, my phone, and partner's phone.

Edited December 27, 2018 by schadeck

[Heronymous]

1 hour ago, schadeck said:

 

I picked up a RAVPower FileHub Plus Wireless Travel Router last month, and am currently using it to post to this message board from a NCL cruise. The hub works just fine for sharing a connection, but to be honest, the speed is terribly slow just for a single user.  That being said, I am able to share a connection between my laptop, my phone, and partner's phone.

And are you connected to multiple devices at the same time and able to use them at the exact same time? I was able to do what you're doing with the ravpower and as soon as I switched to my second device, I could no longer use the internet on the first..

[Mikiejag]

It does.  I use a battery powered wifi repeater/hub.  you can do it one of two ways.  Either as a simple pass through and it prompts each device to log in at their screen, or like you want to do and let the DHCP router take over.

 

I do it the second way and the router maintains the log in credentials and your approved devices just connect (like starbucks or whatever)

 

The biggest problem is usually the log in times out after about 12ish hours of inactivity.  So you will need to "log in" the router about once a day.

 

 

[schadeck]

17 hours ago, Heronymous said:

And are you connected to multiple devices at the same time and able to use them at the exact same time? I was able to do what you're doing with the ravpower and as soon as I switched to my second device, I could no longer use the internet on the first..

 

Yes, all three devices were working at the same time. Sadly, the bandwidth is virtually 3G speeds, so you will not be streaming videos on two separate devices, much less surfing while one device is streaming. On top of that, it appears that NCL blocks a lot of sites. You will be fine going to Instagram, NY Times, or Reddit, but don't expect to go to less common sites. I also noticed that services like feed readers only worked if that device was registered, but standard port 80 was fine on all devices.

[jenf22]

On ‎12‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 3:53 PM, schadeck said:

 

I picked up a RAVPower FileHub Plus Wireless Travel Router last month, and am currently using it to post to this message board from a NCL cruise. The hub works just fine for sharing a connection, but to be honest, the speed is terribly slow just for a single user.  That being said, I am able to share a connection between my laptop, my phone, and partner's phone.

Can you tell me if this is the router that worked for you?

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B016ZWS9ZE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2KUZVNQ9LP7N9&psc=1

We're sailing on the Spirit in March and I'm looking for something to use in the room so the 3 of us can share our plan.  We purchased the unlimited plan (at $280!!) but since it's only one device at a time, it would be nice to have a router.

Thanks!

[schadeck]

12 minutes ago, jenf22 said:

Can you tell me if this is the router that worked for you?

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B016ZWS9ZE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2KUZVNQ9LP7N9&psc=1

We're sailing on the Spirit in March and I'm looking for something to use in the room so the 3 of us can share our plan.  We purchased the unlimited plan (at $280!!) but since it's only one device at a time, it would be nice to have a router.

Thanks!

 

Yes, that was the router I used on the Norwegian cruise I booked in December 2018.  The great thing about this one on is, you can carry it around the boat as your mobile access point. That way, as long as your cabin mates are within range, they can continue to share the connection. This works quite well when you are dining or chilling at a bar.

Edited January 18, 2019 by schadeck

[jenf22]

1 hour ago, schadeck said:

 

Yes, that was the router I used on the Norwegian cruise I booked in December 2018.  The great thing about this one on is, you can carry it around the boat as your mobile access point. That way, as long as your cabin mates are within range, they can continue to share the connection. This works quite well when you are dining or chilling at a bar.

Awesome.  I think it's worth the $45 to try it out.  Looks like it's got other applications too.  Thanks!

[dssking]

To get back to the original question :  My experience is this :

 

On Royal, I used a HOOTOO travel router.  Paid for the one person unlimited package (cheapest).  Went to the cabin,

hooked up the router, authenticated with my ipad via router and then proceeded to connect the other 3 devices.

 

This worked out well for the entire cruise.  Amazon for $34 CAD.  I'll be on NCL in 3 weeks and plan on using it in the same fashion again.  

 

There is a possibility that if IT is smart and are looking for the a range of IPs or specific range of DNS, they can block the router from connecting.  Should this happen, simply log into the router and change it . Simple.

 

This is the method I use, but there will be others that respond and say it's wrong, illegal to share, etc.  Sobeit . The original question was not about morality or legality.  It was HOW TO.....and THIS IS HOW.

[eldrima]

@dssking would you mind writing down steps for doing this on your NCL trip or document with a YouTube video?  I'm headed on the Bliss in about 3 weeks and just ordered the HOOTOO travel router...I'm more tech savvy than the average person but not an IT professional.  Would love some reference or workarounds prior to leaving.  Have a great trip!

[dssking]

I'll be able to tell you more once I board and attempt.  However, what I can tell you now is this :

 

Power up the router and log on to it via phone or tablet ( I used my iPad).  I proceeded to log into the ship's network.

Once the router was authenticated, I then searched for the ROUTER NAME on the other devices and connected.

 

Worked perfect.

[eldrima]

@dssking  I appreciate it!  I'm probably more interested in hearing if you have any issues with the travel router disconnecting from the ship's internet and if you have to come up with any workarounds.  Also wondering if there are any sites or streaming services that you can't use without some sort of VPN workaround.  My MLS team has a important matchup against a Costa Rica team while we are on the boat and I really want to watch it live.

 

Got my Hootoo from Amazon on Friday and played around with it on the weekend connecting to my home network.  It was easy to configure and connect to the router through WIFI or ethernet.  My home internet usually ranges from 75 - 100 mbs down and 100 - 125 mbs up.  When using the Hootoo connected to the router through WIFI then connecting my device to the Hootoo through it's WIFI, I was getting 5-7 mbs up and down.  I then connected the Hootoo to my router using ethernet cable and I was then getting 50 mbs down and 70 mbs up...HUGE DIFFERENCE!  

 

Can't remember if any of the NCL rooms in the past have an ethernet connection for connecting to the ship's internet...if so, that is definitely the way to go if you plan on sharing a signal.  I'll be on the Bliss so I doubt it will have ethernet jacks with the prevalence of WIFI devices today.

[schadeck]

38 minutes ago, eldrima said:

 I then connected the Hootoo to my router using ethernet cable and I was then getting 50 mbs down and 70 mbs up...HUGE DIFFERENCE!  

 

Can't remember if any of the NCL rooms in the past have an ethernet connection for connecting to the ship's internet...if so, that is definitely the way to go if you plan on sharing a signal.  I'll be on the Bliss so I doubt it will have ethernet jacks with the prevalence of WIFI devices today.

3

 

You will get nowhere near this speed, and maybe not even over 1mb.  The speed ranges anywhere from 3g to bad 4g. The main video services *can* work, but I am almost certain they shape the data based on its source. Anything that is not Netflix, Youtube, Facebook, etc, gets throttled.

 

As for ethernet ports, they do not have them in staterooms.

[dssking]

20 hours ago, eldrima said:

@dssking  I appreciate it!  I'm probably more interested in hearing if you have any issues with the travel router disconnecting from the ship's internet and if you have to come up with any workarounds.  Also wondering if there are any sites or streaming services that you can't use without some sort of VPN workaround.  My MLS team has a important matchup against a Costa Rica team while we are on the boat and I really want to watch it live.

 

Got my Hootoo from Amazon on Friday and played around with it on the weekend connecting to my home network.  It was easy to configure and connect to the router through WIFI or ethernet.  My home internet usually ranges from 75 - 100 mbs down and 100 - 125 mbs up.  When using the Hootoo connected to the router through WIFI then connecting my device to the Hootoo through it's WIFI, I was getting 5-7 mbs up and down.  I then connected the Hootoo to my router using ethernet cable and I was then getting 50 mbs down and 70 mbs up...HUGE DIFFERENCE!  

 

Can't remember if any of the NCL rooms in the past have an ethernet connection for connecting to the ship's internet...if so, that is definitely the way to go if you plan on sharing a signal.  I'll be on the Bliss so I doubt it will have ethernet jacks with the prevalence of WIFI devices today.

Eldrima,

Unfortunately, the ship speeds won't be great.  I doubt even good enough for streaming.   However, it's been years since I've been on NCL, but have purchased the single Wifi package and used the Hootoo on Royal 3 times.  They have what they call VOOM Internet, which they claim is the fastest internet at sea.  Well, I was able to stream near flawlessly with my IPTV box I brought.  Since I'm not sure what NCL offers in terms of speed, why not go with a third party service such as SKYROAM?  $10/day for 4G speeds.  You'll easily be able to stream, and you can hook on 5 devices.  I'm going with a company here in Canada called travel-wifi.ca  Perhaps they can ship it to you..........Look into it........may be more reliable.

[eldrima]

I looked into SkyRoam and read a few threads on the CC forums and it appears travelers have had great success with it when in port or within range of cell towers however the service doesn't work when at sea.  The Bliss itinerary we will be on only has 3 days in port and I believe my US cell provider will work and have a comparable cost as SkyRoam without the need to purchase or rent the equipment.  

 

Looks like the NCL data package is my best bet if I want coverage throughout the trip.  I'm a Realtor and will need to be able to respond to emails and phone calls...plan on using Google Voice over the WIFI and/or use WIFI calling on my phone after turning it to Airplane mode and connecting to the WIFI subscription I purchase through NCL. 

[Cruisingfan42]

On 1/29/2019 at 10:07 AM, dssking said:

I'll be able to tell you more once I board and attempt.  However, what I can tell you now is this :

 

Power up the router and log on to it via phone or tablet ( I used my iPad).  I proceeded to log into the ship's network.

Once the router was authenticated, I then searched for the ROUTER NAME on the other devices and connected.

 

Worked perfect.

Did you get the Hootoo router working on NCL?

[dssking]

I went with a cheaper solution - a travel router (LTE) that was good for one person.  Connected that to the router and was able to connect 5 people.  

 

My friend had the same one and he was able to connect to the ships Wifi and serve 5. So yes, this is a viable solution!

 

Better than paying for 5!

[AlGent]

Just left NCL Encore today. Travel Routers were blocked - despite working well in Miami hotel the day prior to our cruise. I use one all over the planet for WiFi among multiple devices & for security.  NCL required $4 activation fee per device & blocked sharing. Using the 1st device as a WiFi hotspot worked - and may continue to work until they figure out a way to stop this too. God luck. 

[fastpitchdad]

You can do it but you should choose a SSID name that blends in because it almost certainly violates the Ts and Cs of unlimited internet. Maybe something like NCL_Cargo.